


Glitra Week Day Six: Underprepared Camping Trip

by EmilliaGryphon



Series: Glitra Week 2020 [6]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friend Squad (She-Ra), Bisexual Glimmer (She-Ra), Bonding, Camping, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Comfort, Crushes, Cuddles, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Flashback, Fluff and Angst, For a good reason, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Glimmer (She-Ra) is a Good Friend, Glimmtra - Freeform, Glimtra, Glitra Week 2020, Glitra week, Horde Prime - Freeform, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Nightmares, OMG there was one sleeping bag, POV Glimmer, Post Save the Cat, Queen Glimmer (She-Ra), SPOP spoilers, She Ra Princess of Power, Shera - Freeform, Tumblr: Glitra Week, Unresolved Emotional Tension, camping gone wrong, camping trip, catra hates water, foils, glitra, or right?, outdoors, post-cannon, spop, the great outdoors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27250780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilliaGryphon/pseuds/EmilliaGryphon
Summary: Written for Glitra Week on Tumblr even though it is well past a week! Adora convinces the Best Friend Squad to go camping. They haven't even reached the campsite when the canoe tips over.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer, Glimer/Catra, Glimmer & Adora
Series: Glitra Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939195
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Glitra Week Day Six: Underprepared Camping Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Post-Cannon: In this story Adora and Catra are best friends but not lovers. 
> 
> *Mentions of drowning*   
> \--  
> Based on an actual camping trip I went on with my friends! (Not the kissing, but everything going wrong)!

Glimmer whipped sweat from her face, muscles aching. The afternoon sun bearing down on her back. She squirmed, trying to find a comfortable position to paddle. 

_ Add this to the list of things Adora has dragged me into.  _

She reminisced with a mixture of irritation and begrudging fondness. 

“We’re almost there guys!” Said friend shouted from the front of the canoe. “Just keep paddling!”

“I think my arms are going to fall off,” Bow complained, though Glimmer could hardly see him over the large bags of tents, cooking supplies and sleeping bags. 

“We’d get there faster if we had everyone paddling!” Glimmer quipped, driving her paddle into the water with more force than necessary. Their third paddler answered with a non-committal groan, curling herself into a ball between the camping stove and the food cooler. 

“Catra! We need three people to paddle! Get your oar, let’s go!” Glimmer shoved her with the corner of her foot irritably. Catra snarled, baring pointed teeth, ears pinned to the back of her head but she made no move to do anything. 

“We’re almost there!” Adora encouraged, “it’s just around that bend! I think I can see it!”

“Mmmmghhh that’s what you said about the last three bends,” Catra whined, trying to twist herself tighter in the low slinking belly of the canoe. 

_ She does have a point... _ Glimmer had to concede, tightening her grip around the paddle and shoving forward. The waters lapped, sparkling with each thrust of Bow and Glimmer’s rowing. 

“Hssss!!” Catra bolted upright, a splash of water sprinkling over her. The boat teetered. 

“Aaaah! Catra! Sit down!” Glimmer shrieked, bags began to fall, out and every which way. Bow and Adora scrambled to get them, even as the canoe teetered. It jostled too and throw, water coming in over the sides. 

_ Teleport! Teleport N… _

Glimmer shrieked, toppling over with a dozen bags into the frigid water. She kicked, waving her arms in an attempt to get to the surface. Something grabbed at her, tight and sharp. Claws wracked into her arms. She kicked harder, striving for the surface. 

“B...Bow! A...Adora! Are you O..”

Catra’s weight threatened to shove her down once more but Glimmer tilted her head upward, desperate to keep nose and mouth above the choppy water. Catra’s arms were around her shoulders, their legs tangled. Glimmer tossed and turned, fumbling for any sort of purchase. 

“We’re good! We’re here!” Adora’s breathy shouts sounded over Catra’s incessant snarling. Glimmer tried to turn her head towards the shore line where Adora and Bow had managed to push the canoe. 

“Get off’a me!” Glimmer attempted to free herself from the frenzied feline but Catra’s claws were unrelenting. She winced at the sight of blood in the water. 

“Catra you’re hurting me! Can’t you swim!” Glimmer tried to teleport, but between the treading water and trying to keep herself from drowning she couldn’t focus. 

“Glimmer! Catra! Hold on!” Glimmer turned to see Bow fire an arrow towards them, Glimmer struggled to grab it, hoping it wouldn’t snap. 

“Ahhh!!” Catra continued to scream, her entire body shaking as she tried to push herself up, away from the water. 

“Stop it! You’re going to drown us!” 

“N...No!” Catra coughed out water, as Bow and Adora tugged them to shore. “No! P...p...please...don’t..”

“Catra?” Glimmer tried to crane her neck to the side to see the feline girl. Her miss-matched eyes were wide, glossed over. Almost unseeing...a shiver ran up Glimmer's spine. 

“Ju...just hand on a sec...if you stop moving I can teleport us the rest of the way.” Glimmer closed her eyes, keeping her grip on the rope even as Bow and Adora tugged them in. Sparkles surrounded her, the feeling of being lifted out of the water, and then…

“Are you two okay?” Adora hovered over as Glimmer opened her eyes, now on solid ground. 

“Y...yeah,” she answered, looking over at Catra who had, at long last, detached herself from Glimmer’s shoulders. 

“Well, we got to our campsite!” Adora announced triumphantly. 

“Tsch, I can’t believe people do this for fun,” Catra growled, shaking out her hair. It was still growing out somewhat, near the length of her shoulders now.

“It WILL be fun! We just have to get set up!”

\---

Much to Glimmer’s chagrin “just setting up,” turned out to be three hours of salvaging any supplies that weren’t soaking wet and scrambling together to get the tents set up. Well, one tent. They had only packed one. 

“I thought we were going to bring two tents! Two people per tent!”

“Oh...yeah...we were supposed to bring two, weren’t we?” Adora stared at the mess of poles. They cobbled it together well enough after three or four tries.

“We should probably make a fire right? Those clouds don’t look too friendly.” Bow pointed towards the tree-lined horizon. Glimmer grumbled, having just changed into dry clothes. 

“First the canoe flips and now it’s going to rain?” Catra screeched, tail on end. 

“It’s going to be fine!” Adora steadied her with a hand on her shoulder, “we will eat some warm food and then all head into the tent and snuggle up!” 

The warm food turned out to be cold, as neither Bow nor Adora or even Glimmer herself could get a fire going before the rain set in. Catra, sensing it coming, ears flicking, dumped her cold chili on the ground and headed into the tent ahead of them. 

_ What is up with her? I know this camping trip has been a disaster but even Catra isn’t usually this angry.  _

Glimmer finished her food, more for Adora’s sake than anyone else's, and headed into the tent as pelts of water began to bounce off the leaves above. 

“Umm we got another problem,” Bow pointed out as they all scrunched together. The flimsy tent vibrated in the harsh wind. 

“What now?!” Adora exclaimed from her place beside Glimmer her ever positive facade quickly slipping. 

“We only have three sleeping bags.” 

“I thought you were in charge of packing! 

Bow bristled, even his patience was beginning to wear off, and honestly, Glimmer couldn’t blame him. 

“I….!”

“It’s fine, I don’t need a sleeping bag,” Catra commented dryly. She’d hardly spoken since she and glimmer were pulled out of the water. 

“Are you sure?” 

“I don’t see any of you covered in fur.” 

Too tired to argue the point, they slipped into their respective sleeping bags, with Catra sprawling over their feet. It would’ve been cute...if the tent wasn’t in fear of collapsing and the rain wasn’t coming down in sheets.

Glimmer twisted and turned, trying to get comfortable. 

_ Too bad we’re in the middle of nowhere! I can’t teleport us to an inn or back to the castle! This is ridiculous, I thought Adora was the queen of planning! She… _

“Mmmmm…….gmmmm…” Glimmer cracked an eye open as she felt something shift. Nudging at her feet and legs. Uncomfortable weight pressing against her ankles. Catra’s bony arm no doubt. 

“Catra! Stop it!” Glimmer kicked roughly. “Catra! Stop fidgeting! I mean it, you…!” 

Catra whimpered, Glimmer steeled herself, sitting upright, wincing as a torrent of rain crashed against the side of the tent nearest her. She watched the feline girl, flinch, her whole form trembling. Glimmer hesitantly reached out, touching her soft shoulder. 

“Cata, psst, Catra do...do you want to sleep up here? Next to me?” 

The only thing more unsettling than Catra being ruefully angry was her being frightened and Glimmer didn’t hate her after all, didn’t wish her ill. Not anymore. She was trying to do better after all, and so was Glimmer. Like it or not, and Glimmer spent a long time denying it, they both had dues to pay. They were both trying to be better. 

Catra’s face contorted with discomfort. A booming clap of thunder made her snap awake, ears pointed forward and tail stick straight. She scrambled up through the array of sleeping bags and dug herself into Glimmer’s curling tight against the princess’s side. Glimmer bit her lip, unsure of what to do. 

_ Is she really this frightened over a thunderstorm? Why didn’t she go to Adora? She’s lying right over there…. _ sure enough Bow and Adora were snoring nearly as loud as the rustling branches. Unsure what else to do, Glimmer wound her arms around Catra, one hand reaching up to tangle her fingers in the brunette hair. 

“Shhh...it’s okay,” she murmured, recalling how her mother used to comfort her during the storms on Brightmoon. “You really don’t like water huh?” At this Catra’s head shot up from where it had been pressed against Glimmer’s chest. Her eyes were somehow scathed with sleep but panic as well. Glimmer gripped her tighter, swallowing her attempt at a joke. 

“New flash princess, I was drowned.” 

_ Horde Prime...I should’ve known… _

“I...I never thanked you...for what you did for me,” Glimmer realized as she said it. Somewhere amid the sleeping bag, Catra’s tail curled around her leg with a grip of its own. The tent shuddered with another round of rain and thunder. Lightning flashed and Catra winced, eyes pinching shut.

“I told you I didn’t do it for you,” Catra managed between gritted teeth. “I did it for Adora.” Glimmer ran her fingers through Catra’s hair absentmindedly. It was softer than she would’ve guessed, despite being drenched earlier. The girl’s warmth and pressure against her chest as she curled up made Glimmer’s breath shudder with comfort.  _ Who knew the prickly feline girl could be this...soft?  _

“Well...still….you saved my life. If you hadn’t sent me to the others I don’t know what would’ve…” she cut herself short. Of course she knew what would’ve happened. 

As soon as Prime got what he wanted from her he would’ve done to her the exact same thing that he’d done to Catra. Glimmer tightened her grip on the girl beside her at the mere thought. Catra’s quickened breaths shuddered against the princess’s neck. She shivered pleasantly. 

“As bad as it was….” Catra whispered into the hollow of Glimmer’s shoulder, “I’d do it again...if I had to. I’d do it again...for you.” 

Glimmer shifted, turning on her side until Catra’s miss-matched eyes were glowing in the dark inches from her face. She reached her other hand up, gently touching one of the many freckles on her face. 

Lightening cracked, illuminating the two of them for one instant. Catra’s hand reached out in panic and Glimmer took it, squeezing. 

“You sure you got all that water out of your head earlier?” Glimmer attempted at some levity. “Who are you and what have you done with the real Catra?” 

Luckily this provoked a smile from the feline girl. She leaned into Glimmer, pulling their entwined hands up under her chin. Glimmer’s heart softened, 

_ We’re both screw ups aren't’ we? Just trying to remake ourselves.  _

The princess’s heart melted, watching Catra shiver against the damp, quaking fabric of the tent. She leaned forward tentatively, kissing her hand. Catra clumsily beant her head downward, nudging, _ nuzzling?  _ Pushing Glimmer’s head upward until, in the dark, Glimmer could taste full lips against hers. Warm and inviting. She kissed her more, shifting her hands from Catra’s, down to her waist, fumbling with the clumsy sleeping bag. Catra let out a breathy noise, somewhere between pleasure and surprise as Glimmer pushed herself flush against hers, their hips locking in the narrow containment of the sleeping bag. 

“How long have you wanted to do that?” Catra asked between kisses, her tone returning to its usual snark. 

“About as long as I’ve wanted to kick your ass,” Glimmer answered. Catra smiled, giving the princess another kiss, this one with a hint of want and heat. 

“Trust me, Sparkles, feelings mutual.” 

**THE END**


End file.
